If you take a look at it, 4 out of 75 prospects is pretty solid really. Between 30 teams, 75 spots allows for 2.5 prospects per team on average, so the Wings are over-indexing. Considering Detroit's draft postitions over the last 5 years, that phenominal really.

Also, there was a lot of excitement over Pulkkinen some time ago, but seems to be none in this thread. Has he dropped off this season or what? Are people still hopeful with this guy or what?

If you take a look at it, 4 out of 75 prospects is pretty solid really. Between 30 teams, 75 spots allows for 2.5 prospects per team on average, so the Wings are over-indexing. Considering Detroit's draft postitions over the last 5 years, that phenominal really.

Also, there was a lot of excitement over Pulkkinen some time ago, but seems to be none in this thread. Has he dropped off this season or what? Are people still hopeful with this guy or what?

Teemu remains the most likely goal scorer in the entire farm system. I just think he is in the donught hole where he isn't new enough to be shocking, and isn't old enough to be dominating and at the top of the prospects list. I think he is WAY better than Sheahan.

"It is a lot easier to be an ******* to words than to people"-xkcd

Tootoo does NOT belong on this team. He is classless and I would rather see the Wings be bad than classless. I feel the same way about Bertuzzi as well, but he at least CAN make the team better. With Tootoo the team becomes worse and in danger of being classless. Would you have liked Claude on the team? Or Roy? No. So why would you be okay with that POS.

This thread has been closed due to emotions being higher than people's ability to read, interpret, and properly respond to simple posts.

I think that's a fair assessment. I dont see any of those players as being top line material (except smith i can see being a top 2 dman). We have depth in our farm system, but no marquee players. In other words, we have a replacement for Filppula, we have a replacement for Hudler, but when Dastyuk and Zetterberg and Franzen retire, there's no young blood that can fill their skates, at least at the moment.

Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this was mentioned. Were D and Z supposed to be top line guys? Not to my understanding. They took a chance and it worked out. They saw potential. They didn't see, arguably the best player in the world at this present time. I don't want to jinx us but I trust our front office. Flip looked like Datsyuk tonight. Nice to see the unexpected happen.

Yea Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Franzen came out of no where. I'm sure our farm system will produce the next waive of stars soon.

Disagree on Zetterberg - obviously he was drafted low, but before he came across he had a big reputation and people were talking about him as a "smaller Forsberg"

Obviously Datsyuk came from nowhere - Datsyuk 1.0, the pre-lockout shy little kid with the dazzling skills. Datsyuk 2.0 also came from nowhere, the post lockout 2-way monster that he became once Babcock got hold of him.

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

Disagree on Zetterberg - obviously he was drafted low, but before he came across he had a big reputation and people were talking about him as a "smaller Forsberg"

Obviously Datsyuk came from nowhere - Datsyuk 1.0, the pre-lockout shy little kid with the dazzling skills. Datsyuk 2.0 also came from nowhere, the post lockout 2-way monster that he became once Babcock got hold of him.

I seem to remember Datsyuk wowing everyone even in his first season. He may have come out of nowhere but people took notice right away.

New e-book: The Spanish-American War: A Brief History. Relatively short, introductory read for casual history buffs and people who want to learn more about a forgotten war that changed America. Available at BN.com, Smashwords, Kobo, and Diesel E-Books right now. Same link as above.

Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this was mentioned. Were D and Z supposed to be top line guys? Not to my understanding. They took a chance and it worked out. They saw potential. They didn't see, arguably the best player in the world at this present time. I don't want to jinx us but I trust our front office. Flip looked like Datsyuk tonight. Nice to see the unexpected happen.

The front office knew what they had in both Dats and Z. Days was able to be drafted so low because the Wings were the only organization that knew about him. Those picks are much more difficult to make because scouting league-wide is so much better than it was a decade or two ago. Overseas leagues advertise their top players better also.In any event, it would be awesome to get some more deep draft pick steals but I wouldn't give the wings' prospect pool a better grade on the assumption that some of those 3rd or 4th rd picks turn out to be prodigies. Based on what we know about the kids today, their skill set, development, etc right now, the grade that tsn gave is fair, IMO. It's also to be expected, given we draft low year after year.

The front office knew what they had in both Dats and Z. Days was able to be drafted so low because the Wings were the only organization that knew about him. Those picks are much more difficult to make because scouting league-wide is so much better than it was a decade or two ago. Overseas leagues advertise their top players better also.In any event, it would be awesome to get some more deep draft pick steals but I wouldn't give the wings' prospect pool a better grade on the assumption that some of those 3rd or 4th rd picks turn out to be prodigies. Based on what we know about the kids today, their skill set, development, etc right now, the grade that tsn gave is fair, IMO. It's also to be expected, given we draft low year after year.

I wouldn't they "knew what they had" as in they knew (or were particularly confident even) that they would become stars in the NHL. You never know for sure what players other teams are aware of or how highly they value them, and you wouldn't risk passing on Pav seven times if you had any strong belief that he'd become even close to what he is now. Maybe you take your chances passing in the first few rounds while the well known prospects are taken, but after the top 100 or so, pretty much everyone is relatively unknown.

The Wings just aim for players with a high skill level who seem to have the sense to fit our two-way system and hope they reach their potential. Sometimes you get lucky like Datsyuk, sometimes you get Per Backer, sometimes you land in the middle like Flip or Huds.

The front office knew what they had in both Dats and Z. Days was able to be drafted so low because the Wings were the only organization that knew about him. Those picks are much more difficult to make because scouting league-wide is so much better than it was a decade or two ago. Overseas leagues advertise their top players better also.In any event, it would be awesome to get some more deep draft pick steals but I wouldn't give the wings' prospect pool a better grade on the assumption that some of those 3rd or 4th rd picks turn out to be prodigies. Based on what we know about the kids today, their skill set, development, etc right now, the grade that tsn gave is fair, IMO. It's also to be expected, given we draft low year after year.

Knowing what you have and seeing someones potential are completely different things.

I seem to remember Datsyuk wowing everyone even in his first season. He may have come out of nowhere but people took notice right away.

Isn't that what I said?

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk